How To Make A Sourdough Pizza From Scratch

In this post, I am showing you how to make a sourdough pizza from scratch that is full of flavor. And I promise you, it is really easy to make.  All you need is an active sourdough starter, flour, salt, water, and a bit of patience. 

I admit, I’m quite intrigued with sourdough and using a sourdough starter. Therefore, you’ll find a growing number of recipes with a sourdough starter on my blog.

Here are more recipes with a sourdough starter: delicious Buttermilk Pancakes With Sourdough Starter, my rustic Sourdough Focaccia Bread, or Adjaruli Khachapuri made with sourdough.

Even though it takes longer for the dough to rise compared to a yeast-based pizza dough, it is worth the wait.

In my opinion, sourdough pizza dough is more flavorsome, and it is easier to work with. You can watch how to make it in my step-by-step cooking tutorial.

It goes without saying that a good quality sourdough starter plays the main role in our recipe.

My starter usually hibernates in the fridge. To make the starter active, I usually take it out of the fridge a day before I am planning on using it.

I feed my starter some flour and distilled water, and let the jar sit in a warm place.

After a few hours, you will see bubbles on the surface of our starter. That means the sourdough starter is ready to be used; it is active so to speak.

If you don’t have a sourdough starter yet, I made a comprehensive guide on how to make an active sourdough starter. You can watch it here.

How To Make A Sourdough Pizza Step-By-Step

1. Pour lukewarm water and olive oil into a large bowl. Add the sourdough starter and mix together.
2. In a separate bowl mix the flour and salt together. Then dump the flour/salt in with the starter/water liquid.
3. Using your hand or a wooden spoon, combine all the ingredients until they form a sticky ball. Tip: Dampen your hands to handle the sticky dough more easily.
4. Dust the dough with flour and cover with glad wrap and a tea towel.
5. Put the bowl in a warm place.
6. Every 30 minutes (4 times), stretch and fold the dough. See below for instructions.
7. Once the dough has doubled in size (after around 5 hours), tip it onto a dusted workbench.
8. Cut the dough into 5 equal parts if you make individual pizzas or two big pieces if you bake them on a baking sheet.
9. Shape the dough into balls, cover them with a tea towel, and let them rest for another 20 minutes.
10. Stretch the dough out to the required size and put your favorite toppings on. Dust your pizza pan slightly with flour before putting the dough in. I like to put my stretched-out dough on parchment paper. That way, it is easier to move the pie onto the pizza pan or pizza stone.

The Stretch And Fold Method

If you never performed a stretch and fold method, here’s a brief video demonstrating the stretch and fold technique. In my view, it’s quite simple to do. Typically, I perform four sets of stretches and folds at 30-minute intervals.

Tip: Keep a small bowl of water next to our dough so we can wet our hands. Wet hands/fingers prevent the dough from sticking to our hands.

To start, wet your hand, and grab the outer edge of the dough. Pull it straight up, and fold it over the dough. Slightly turn the bowl and repeat the process with the next section of dough, lifting and folding. Continue this action four to five times, rotating the bowl with each fold.

Now cover the bowl with glad wrap and let the dough rest for 30 minutes.

Repeat the stretch and fold method three more times with a 30-minute rest time in between.

By the way, you will notice how the dough is transforming during the sets of stretch and folds. The dough will transform from a sticky ‘mess’ to a smooth and almost glossy-looking dough.

Once you do it four times, let the dough rest for a few hours, a process known as bulk fermentation.

My Sourdough Pizza Toppings

The beautiful thing about pizza is that anything goes… Everyone has their preferred pizza toppings and a ‘secret’ sauce recipe. Today, I’ve chosen to make our sourdough pizza vegetarian to accommodate my daughter’s choice to avoid meat.

Vegetables: For this delicious and easy-to-make sourdough pizza, I am using my favorite vegetables. Think red, yellow, and green capsicum/bell peppers, and sliced red onion. I like to saute them in olive oil before using them on my pizza; just to soften them a little bit. I season them with salt, pepper, and chili flakes.

Pizza Sauce: I opt for store-bought pasta sauce as the tomato base. Being a busy mother of three, I occasionally rely on shortcuts. Nevertheless, the pasta sauce tastes surprisingly good.

Cheese: The choice of grated cheese is up to you; you can use mozzarella, cheddar, or Colby cheese on your pizza pie. I like to use a combination of Colby cheese and mozzarella for our sourdough pizza. What do you prefer? Let me know in the comments below.

Our ‘secret’ pizza topping: To make the pizza truly unique, I add a special topping. I take an egg, whisk it with a fork, and gently drizzle it over the sautéed vegetables. This technique was taught to me by an Italian friend, and I’ve adored it on my pizza ever since.

I would love to know what you think of it. Would you try it, or have you tried it before?

But now, let’s find out how to make the pizza dough with a sourdough starter.

My Easy And Delicious Sourdough Pizza Recipe

If you’d like to watch the video on how to make our sourdough pizza, please follow this link.

I would love for you to leave a rating and a comment with your feedback and any questions you might have. It will help me to improve my recipes even more.

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I’m certain that our homemade sourdough pizza recipe will quickly become a favorite in your home. Although the dough requires a few hours to rise, the resulting flavor is worth the wait.

Please note that the recipe card contains affiliate links for the equipment (in case you need any kitchen gadgets).

But now, put on your aprons, and let’s get cooking.